Florence Laura Green 1908-1990

Florence Laura Green as a teenager

Florence Laura Green was born on 2nd July 1908 in Aston Birmingham.

Her parents were Thomas William Green B.1879 and Ann Winter 1869-1932. The Green family history has been traced back many centuries. It’s part of the Edgecombe family which can be traced back to William the conquer. Sir Walter Raleigh is part of this family. One researcher of the Edgecombe family has over 30,000 members in his tree. Florence is one of those tree members.

Florence’s grandparents Francis Green and Frances Edgecombe were wealthy landowners in Gloucestershire before going to Australia, where they seemed to lose most of their wealth. They had 2 children in Australia before returning to Birmingham where Frances ran an herbal beer shop in Summer Lane.

The 1911 census shows Florence, aged 2, living with her family at 23 Adderley Rd Birmingham. She is living there with: her father Thomas Green, a 32-year-old Gas Worker; her mother Ann Green aged 40; her brothers George aged 11 and William aged 9; and her sister Gladys aged 5.

Florence married William Charles Brown in 1933. William Charles was 37 at the time. He was said to be the ‘Saltley Toff’ and unlikely to be married. There is much family speculation about their relationship. If, as it seems is likely, there was an early illegitimate child* it’s likely Charlotte Brown had some hand in forcing their marriage before she died. William Charles had done this before after all.

*We have now discovered (October 2016) the birth of a child to Florence Laura and William Charles. The child, a girl named Violet was born 27 June 1933. She died 17 hours later. The child was not born illegitimate, her parents had been married a few months before in the March of that year. It is likely the impending birth of the child was the reason for a hastily arranged Register Office wedding. William Charles’ mother, Charlotte had died the previous year so she had no hand to play in this marriage . We can but speculate as to why, this time, William Charles married.

Florence was struck down with Rheumatic Arthritis back in 1959 when she was in her early 50’s. She was hospitalised shortly afterward at Highcroft Hospital in Erdington where she lived for a further 30 years until her death in 1990.

Florence Laura Green died in September 1990. She was cremated at Yardley Crematorium in Birmingham.

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